


The Boys View Some Christmas Lights

by terminallyChaotic



Series: Epithet Erased One-Shots [2]
Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: Bonding, Family, Found Family, Friendship, Holidays, Not Beta Read, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:20:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27724063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terminallyChaotic/pseuds/terminallyChaotic
Summary: Neither Molly nor Sylvie have been a part of the annual 'go downtown and make a ruckus while admiring the Christmas lights' Giovanni & Boys Event, and Giovanni (and some boys) plan to change that
Relationships: Fred "Car Crash" Donaldson & Giovanni Potage, Fred "Car Crash" Donaldson & Giovanni Potage & Spike, Fred "Car Crash" Donaldson/Giovanni Potage, Fred "Car Crash" Donaldson/Giovanni Potage/Spike, Giovanni Potage & Spike, Giovanni Potage/Spike, Molly Blyndeff & Fred "Car Crash" Donaldson & Giovanni Potage & Spike, Molly Blyndeff & Giovanni Potage, Molly Blyndeff & Spike, Sylvester "Sylvie" Ashling & Giovanni Potage, Sylvester "Sylvie" Ashling & Molly Blyndeff, Sylvester "Sylvie" Ashling & Molly Blyndeff & Giovanni Potage, if you squint
Series: Epithet Erased One-Shots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2027888
Comments: 19
Kudos: 43





	The Boys View Some Christmas Lights

**Author's Note:**

> Hi its 6 AM I wrote this in like 4 hours with no brain power because I have writers block for everything else ever so. take it. thank u.

It's a winter's eve like any other in Sweet Jazz City. The birds have migrated south, the sun is already setting behind the horizon, lights inside highrise buildings all around becoming ever more visible, and Giovanni Potage has a plan.

"Now, we might have to kidnap Bear Trap from the terrifying grasp of- _**The Toy Store.**_ " Giovanni points forward, as though Blyndeff Toy Emporium were right in front of him rather than still a few streets away.

Sylvie rolls his eyes at the dramatics of the so-called super-villain striding beside him, shoving his hands a little deeper into his pockets as he glances over and up out of the side of his eye.

"You mean like you _'kidnapped'_ me from my _**job?**_ " Actually it would be rather similar, considering Molly works at the toy store. It would seem Giovanni's _Crime du Jour_ is forcing people to leave their jobs early. 

"Oh, c'mon, kid! It's past 5 PM, you should be going home like the rest of the world anyways. Besides, it's not like you had any _patients._ " Even a supervillain knows that mental health is important, and ruining someone's appointment could have horrible consequences. 

"Regardless of if I had any patients, I have more work to do than that. And, not a kid." 

"Yeah, yeah," A gloved hand waved dismissively in Sylvie's face, "Well, I for one would like to keep _Bear Trap_ from being out too late, so how's that?"

It's a rhetorical question, and all Sylvie has to offer in return is crossed arms and a mumble of agreement that Molly _shouldn't_ be out too late. 

Giovanni is happy with his obvious victory, and rambles on until they eventually arrive at Blyndeff Toy Emporium. 

He peers inside the windows, decked out for the holidays, motioning for Sylvie to 'stay low and follow me' before creeping towards the front door. 

It opens with a quiet jingle regardless of how carefully Giovanni tries to pry it open, slinking his lanky body through the smallest gap he can fit through before holding it open for Sylvie to also pass through. Sylvie, very reluctantly, follows suit. 

Giovanni ducks and rolls, sneaking around shelves and giant stuffed animals until he finally spots her, stocking toys and humming a soft little tune to herself. Sylvie follows with crossed arms and no attempt to conceal himself.

It works either way, when Molly has her back turned to them, giving Giovanni a prime moment to snatch her up with a shout of "Gotcha! Quick, Sylvie, open the door!"

Molly lets out a shout of surprise, twisting in Giovanni's grasp before realizing just who has taken hold of her- and is quickly rushing toward the front door with her.

"Boss?! What's going on? Is there an emergency?!" She tries to look at him, but she's being held not unlike a cat as Giovanni rushes her to the door and outside, Sylvie disappearing back into the toy store for a few brief moments only to come back out with her coat and having flipped the sign to 'closed.'

"Yes! There is!" Giovanni sets Molly down, and she turns to face him with a worried expression.

"What is it?"

"It's..." Pause for dramatic effect, "The fact that the Christmas Lights have been up for a week and we haven't all gone to see them together yet! This is a bonding activity I do with my boys every year, and you have yet to be included!"

"...That's it?"

" **'That's it'?!** Bear Trap, this is a big deal! You're one of my boys now, and you need to be in on this! Car Crash and Spike are already waiting downtown. So put your coat on," He takes Molly's coat from Sylvie's hands, thrusting it towards her, "And let's go! The store will be _fine_ for a few hours."

Molly hesitates, clutching onto her coat and glancing over to Sylvie as though he would have all their answers. He shrugs in return- it's her choice, and Giovanni had already managed to drag him from his desk.. although, maybe if Molly denied, he could go back to work-

"..Okay. Let's go!"

Giovanni cackles as Molly slips into her coat, pulling the bear-eared hood up, and Sylvie shoves his hands back into his pockets as the trio begins making their way downtown, excited chattering lighting up between the two... villains- with occasional input from Sylvie (mostly bullying Giovanni, of course.)

\------------

When they finally get to the edge of downtown, the twinkling of a rainbow of Christmas lights casting a delightful glow across the whole area, Car Crash and Spike are sitting on the ledge of a building they probably shouldn't be sitting on, chatting away about who knows what. 

Giovanni calls out to them, drawing their attention and causing them to both stand and make their way over to the trio.

"Hey, you got her!" Spike exclaims, grinning down at Molly. 

"They got me!" Molly responds, giggling as Spike ruffles a hand through her curls. 

"Is this everybody?" Car crash enquires, looking to Giovanni for an answer. And, of course, as a good leader, he gives one.

"Yup! Crusher is busy with family, Dark Star is out of town, Flamethrower is busy with cheerleading, and Ben-" Nobody likes Ben. 

"And so for this week's excursion to the fantastical light displays of downtown Sweet Jazz City, we have only-" Oh, here comes the dramatic motions and Will-Smith-Presenting-His-Wife-ing.

"Spike! The pointiest of boys." Spike indulges in doing a Super Cool Minion Pose, sticking her tongue out and grinning wide while looking like some sort of tangled Sailor Moon character.

"Car Crash!-"  
"Fred. Please."  
"Code name, Fred! Really should have _glasses_ for an event like this."

Fred sighs, murmurs something about 'going to see an optometrist next week.'

"Bear Trap! The littlest _and_ newest boy, here to prove she's got what it takes to handle the winter holidays of the BANZ- I mean, of GIOVANNI AND HIS BOYS!"

Molly roars, curling her fingers into claws as she's introduced, but can't help but to laugh at the slip-up.

"Doctor Know-It-All!" Oh, that's an intense glare. "Just like Fred, huh? Sylvie! Not a boy, but a special exception to the rules!"

Giovanni does a little twirl, striking a few poses in succession to show off, which Spike and Molly enthusiastically cheer for (Fred also cheers, but definitely with a little less intensity.)

"And the great and powerful, baddest bad guy and leader of this posse- GIOVANNI POTAGE!"

A few people stare as they pass by, watching the odd little group making a ruckus, but Giovanni either doesn't notice or doesn't care. 

"With that out of the way-" He quickly points everybody to face the lights, Fred and Spike to his right while Molly and Sylvie stood to his left- obviously he has to be center, he _is_ the leader after all.

"Onwards! To the lights!"

\--------

Giovanni is enthusiastic from the get-go, pointing out which displays he found particularly rad. He almost loses it over the store that has a race car bed on display in the window with lights attached- including _headlights_ and a few season-appropriate stuffed animals and bedding laid atop- and drags Fred over by the hand to look at it. (He doesn't let go, after that window.)

Molly is in awe for a lot of it, having never had the chance to participate in something like this before. In the end, she's just as excited as Giovanni, and gasps at anything she finds that's above 'a basic string of lights hanging off a building'. At some point, too, she ends up with Giovanni's gloves on her hands- they're a bit big, but they keep her hands warm, and they.. smell like soup.

Sylvie plays it cool, for the most part, but his eyes light up at the particularly complex displays- moving parts or lights that put on a show. He has to be dragged away from a toy store that has a winter-themed sheep rotating around (Molly and Giovanni both make a note of that, while he stays pressed up against the glass, refusing to let Spike pull him away.)

Spike makes sure to take plenty of pictures along the way, dedicated to documenting Bear Traps First Holiday Light Event. A few of them are- not ruined, but, rather blurry- from moments when Molly or Giovanni would get particularly excited and try to pull her this or that way. (Of which she's happy to oblige. That's her cru- er, boss, and Bear Trap deserves the world.)

Fred kind of just rolls with it all- just happy to be here. He does trip over himself a few times, and has to get closer than others to see the displays properly, but otherwise, it's... pretty chill. (And he doesn't mind holding Giovanni's hand, honestly.)

When they get to the center of downtown, Molly lets out a gasp so loud that for a second the others worry she got hurt-

"It's so big!" Her exclamation puts them at ease, as she points to the larger than life Christmas tree standing proud before them, lit up bright enough that there was essentially no need for the street lamps in the area.

"You've.. never seen this before?" Sylvie inquires, adjusting his glasses as he looks between Molly and the tree.

She shakes her head, still awe-struck by the glimmering lights stretching high into the sky.

"It's here every year." How does one just.. not see the giant Christmas tree downtown? Has Molly ever even been downtown? The questions never end with this child.

"Wow...." She breathes, taking a small step closer.

Spike takes a quick picture of her- and another when Sylvie, after some debate, steps up next to Molly to gaze upwards at the tree as well. (He's just as much in awe as the rest of them, even if he refuses to admit it.) She rests her chin on Giovanni's shoulder as the three older villains watch the kids, whispering loud enough to overcome the chatter surrounding them.

"You were right. They totally loved this."

Giovanni grins and hums, giving a nod as Fred chimes in.

"I can't believe Molly's never been here before...."

"Neither has Sylvie. Too focused on work." Giovanni's smile softens, his bow furrows as he speaks.

"I'm glad they're both enjoying it. They deserve to be kids."

"Hey, you implyin' we're kids?" Spike playfully slaps at Giovanni's side, and he gently moves his elbow back against her, laughing at her comment.

"Yeah, you're three months younger than me. Maybe you should be over with them."

"Ohoho, I'll kick your butt!"

Quiet conversation, inevitably, fades into banter, and from there an all-out snowball fight, snowballs glistening rainbows as they fly past the tree and against other members of their squad- which, of course, eventually includes the children as well. 

By the time they tire out, Molly is yawning and struggling to keep upright, which results in Fred helping her onto Giovanni's back- and, eventually, Sylvie onto Spikes (what? His nickname is Car Crash, and you want him to carry a child? As if!)

They end up going to the Potage residence, sleeping children woken up just long enough to strip out of their jackets and boots before being quietly moved upstairs. 

Giovanni lets them have his race car bed for tonight, making sure to point it out to Fred and Spike when they end up cuddling together in their sleep as he tucks them in. 

Fred fetches the spare blankets and pillows from around the house, careful not to wake up Giovanni's moms, and Spike helps him set up a nest for the three adults on the floor of Giovanni's room as the man himself tuts around, plugging in phones shoving his dirty clothes into the closet for the night.

They end up in the nest of blankets, murmuring to each other for an hour or two about the night and memories of Holidays past, wondering what their other friends were up to, (and how much they hate Ben,) before dosing off wrapped up in a mess of blankets and each other's limbs, tucked together with Giovanni in the middle making sure to give his boys each a kiss goodnight before letting the gentle hands of sleep carry him away.

This had definitely been a good plan.

**Author's Note:**

> i swear im trying to work on the ghost fic lol, i had a burst of inspiration the other day and then it all got deleted so i am. waiting for that next burst.


End file.
